Pickleball Serving Rules – How to Serve in Pickleball?

By |

Are you a newbie or someone who wants to be conversant in the coming pickleball matches but dont know the pickleball service rules? If yes, then you’ve arrived at the right place. Well, the basic serving rules include determining a correct position, considering your serve aim, foot position with respect to the baseline, etc.

Here we have compiled a complete guide regarding the serving method, tips and serving rules of pickleball as well. However, before going into the details of serving rules of the pickleball, let’s first know how to serve in pickleball.

Pickleball Serving Rules

How to Serve in Pickleball?

If you have just started playing pickleball or want to excel in it, then you might be thinking about how to serve in pickleball.

So let’s go ahead and find the easiest two ways of serving efficiently in the pickleball.

  1. For a clear shot, you should try to keep the peak of the pickleball paddle below the peak of your wrist. It is crucial and helps you in avoiding a backswing as well.
  2. Determine which serving direction or motion suits you the best. Then practice that motion. Irrespective of the serving motion, you must raise your hand in an upward direction.

Consequently, you can master the pickleball serve if you correctly follow the above process having two simple ways.

5 Crucial Pickleball Serving Rules

The following easy-to-follow rules can prove really valuable in terms of making you a pro in pickleball play. 

With that said, let’s look forward to the most accessible service rules.

1. First Shot From the Right Hand Side of the Court

It would help if you remembered that the first serve is always from the right side of the pickleball court.

You have to serve from the right side until you win a point, and as it happens, you have to move to the left side of the pickleball court.

Then you have to serve on the left side until your opponent wins a point.

After this, your opponent will start to serve from the right side of the court, and the subsequent process will continue similarly.

2. Stand Behind the Pickleball Service Baseline

Stand Behind the Pickleball Service Baseline

It’s a usual rule in every game, like a racquet, which resembles pickleball that if you are serving you should not touch the service baseline. However, you can enter the court area when you have served.

This rule also varies depending on whether the play is doubles or singles.

Accordingly, if you are playing singles, you should follow the above step. But if you are playing doubles, your companion can enter the court even when you serve.

3. While Serving, Put a Contact at the Navel (Underhand Serve)

The contact point means the point when the paddle strikes your ball. So this contact should be at your navel or below your waist.

Pickleball serving rule (Contact the paddle with ball at the Navel)

4. Drop the Ball at a Low Level

Never try to toss the ball in the upward motion and waiting for your swing to return in an average direction. Because the full swing permanently destroys the consistent direction of the ball.

Therefore, to avoid this mistake, you must raise the paddle in the vertical position above your hip with your arm extended ahead.

When you enter this situation, try to drop the ball at a lower level in front of you.

5. Pick Out Your Serve Aim

Do you know that the aim plays a vital role in the pickleball serve?

For both doubles and singles, determining an aim is crucial because it provides you with an excellent opportunity to make your opponents go to one side of the pickleball court.

So, if they go to one point, then you obviously have a great chance of winning a point. That is why regarding the aim, you should aim a serve to the corner of the pickleball court area.

5 Best Pickleball Serving Tips/Techniques

1. Schedule a Pre-serve Routine

The first important tip for making the pickleball as successful as possible is to arrange a pre-serve routine.

Don’t worry; it’s nothing complex.

The pre-serve schedule basically means to prepare you before serving on the pickleball court.

Primarily, this routine consists of hitting the pickleball with your paddle, bouncing the pickleball on your hands or just arranging your hat. 

Since there are no limitations, thus you can easily choose whatever routine you want but prepare it to your best for having a win-win situation.

Now you might be thinking that what’s the reason for preparing a pre-serve routine?

So if it’s like that, you should know that this routine determines your physical and mental capability to earn the scores.

Moreover, the routine also helps you manage your time on the pickleball court.

Besides preparing the routine, calling the score is crucial before you serve because it helps you to serve accurately without any possible fault. Doing this has really proved helpful for the player who serves.

2. Use a Semi-closed Stance & Try Not to Rotate

Some pickleball players make the mistake of over-rotating when hitting the ball. You should not make this mistake during a backswing because it causes the ball to be hit on its side and then make the consistency very difficult to maintain.

Pickleball semi closed stance

Hence, focus on the tips ahead to know how to avoid these common mistakes.

  • First, you must avoid bending or rotating too much on your feet and shoulders during a swing back. Avoiding this will help you maintain a consistent direction of the pickleball and hence avoid any standard error. And most importantly, it assists you in preventing the ball from getting behind you.
  • Second tip to avoid mistakes is to use a semi-closed stance. Well, you don’t have to worry about this term because it simply means a stance that is partially opened and partially closed to the crosscourt service box.

If you use a semi closed stance, there is very little or almost no chance of getting large backswings and rotations. So the direction can be kept consistent automatically by following this step.

  • Third, you should try to close contact with the pickelball waist, i.e. in front of your body. This situation helps you to serve with more power, and also, it interestingly makes the strike consistent. 

3. Master Your Pickleball Serving Technique

During pickleball play, players can bend their elbows or flick their wrists. However, doing this is wrong and leads to just faults.

Since these motions or directions are challenging to repeat throughout the pickleball, therefore it causes inconsistency in the serve process.

Moreover, it is essential to know that the serve motion should follow the phenomenon of the pendulum and be loose and fluid. Thus, you can do these processes repeatedly without any inconvenience. 

Also, you should remember not to stop the service when contacting the pickleball. Instead of stopping, continue playing until you can.

4. Establish power, especially using your legs & core

Do you want to know how to efficiently establish extra power for playing pickleball? If yes, just read ahead and let your pickleball be as compelling as possible.

  • Before going for the following practical steps, try to understand and practice the above tips.
  • Then, you should try to speed up the usage of the pickleball paddle accurately.
  • Another fantastic way to establish more power is to engage your core and legs because these strong muscles are really helpful in enabling you to play competitively. Moreover, you can easily do it by bringing your utmost attention to compressing your legs.  

5. Consistent Serve

Last but not least, the minimum requirement for a good pickleball serve is that there should be enough consistent serve. 

That is why you should master pickleball serving techniques. Accordingly, you can do it by practicing daily the techniques given above.

Can a serve Land in the Kitchen in Pickleball?

To be straightforward, a serve land in the kitchen pickleball is considered illegal. It means that you should try not to serve in the kitchen pickleball.

Accordingly, if, unfortunately, your ball lands in the kitchen and you wonder if it can serve land in the kitchen pickleball or not, then you should know that it’s a fault.

In some cases, when a serve lands in the kitchen pickleball you will lose the point and be considered a foul.

What is a Let Serve in Pickleball?

First of all, in the doubles, the players play rock paper scissor shoes, and the winner in this game has a chance to serve first. Now it depends upon the winner that whether he wants to serve or receive.

If the player chooses to serve then during playing a condition of let serve occurs.

Additionally, it would help if you kept in mind that the service occurs by keeping at least a foot distance behind the baseline and that you should not touch the line. Otherwise, it is not considered a legal serve.

The let serve is when a serve touches the net of the pickleball and then lands on the correct pickleball court.

In this situation, the play proceeds and this let serve is said to be good. The pickleball play continues with the player being called a serve until the serve earns a point.

However, if the serve does not land in the correct court place, it is said to be the fault.

How Long Does a Player Continue to Serve?

Generally, the player continues to serve until they make a fault. But a rule has been established regarding the time length of a player to serve. This rule is called 10 seconds pickleball rule. 

It’s not a complex process. So let us know the rule stating how long a player continues to serve.

As for this rule, the player can continue to serve until a mistake is made or if they take a serve within the suggested 10 seconds time limit.

Accordingly, the players must take their serve within 10 seconds after the referee calls the scores. But if the player fails to do so, it will be considered a fault.

Final Thoughts on Pickleball Serving Rules

After reading this article you will have gotten enough idea about how you can make a perfect shot, determine an accurate motion and serving rules. Once you master your skills of how to play pickleball and how you can improve it further by following some of the above tips, no one can stop you to become a max pro in pickleball.

Consequently, this was our article about the pickleball serving rules. We hope that you find it your utmost worthy friend to learn the pickleball service rules quickly and exceed in the pickleball field as high as possible.

Leave a Comment